


He Knows Them All

by methylviolet10b



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:23:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7394824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/methylviolet10b/pseuds/methylviolet10b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watson knows them all. Written for JWP #4: The Four Horsemen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Knows Them All

**Author's Note:**

> Completely random. And absolutely no beta. This was written in a complete rush. You have been warned.

The four horsemen? Watson’s met them all.  And of the four, he knows which is truly master.  
  
He first came across Famine in India. Saw the traces in the faces of the beggars on his way to the train that would take him to his regiment, already in the field. That was just a fleeting glimpse, but they would come to know each other far better in Afghanistan, in drought- and conflict-stricken villages where gaunt men and women glared, and listless, wizened infants were too weak to cry. They even flirted directly once or twice, when supply lines were cut off and soldiers made jokes over scant rations.  
  
Pestilence was no stranger. Watson had made its acquaintance in his youth, losing friends and family to its intermittent visits. It kept coming back, even after Watson was a doctor and soldier both.  
  
War was a theoretical figure even after Watson joined the Army, right up until he found himself in foreign lands with perfect strangers doing their very best to take his life along with those of his fellows. Watson never forgot that first acquaintance, not for the rest of his life, and every subsequent encounter left its marks.  
  
Death follows behind the other three, gamboling in their wake. Yet it is Death who all too often calls the tune, Death who is the true master. All will eventually bow before him. Watson knows this as well as any and better than most. He recognizes that Death is not always unwelcome. Death is not always the enemy. Sometimes it is even a friend, in the proper time and place.  
  
It is Death untimely, Death unmerited, Death violent and cruel, that Watson will always fight. Watson is a doctor and soldier both, and that aspect of Death is the ultimate foe that crosses all battlefields and knows no allegiances.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted July 4, 2016


End file.
